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Jan2014

More than three million join Saudia’s Alfursan program

The number of Alfursan members, who are Saudia’s frequent flyers, reached three million by the end of 2013, while the number of reward tickets issued by the airline to Alfursan members reached 48,643 tickets, said Dr. Abdul Aziz Khayyat, director of the program.

The increase in the number of Alfursan members shows that the airline’s customer care program has been successful in winning the hearts of frequent passengers, Khayyat said.

He said during the past five years, there was record growth in Alfursan members with their number reaching more than three million by the end of 2013 compared to 2.74 million in 2012, with an increase of 255,864 passengers or 9 percent.

Khayyat, director general of Alfursan Program, said his department has been exerting continuous efforts to develop the program to make it more attractive to passengers. He urged passengers to join the program by logging into the airline’s website.

“We have developed the website offering a lot of incentives to passengers, including management of accounts, special facilities for making bookings and purchasing tickets, adding unregistered flights and purchase of reward miles,” he explained.

Khayyat said Alfursan program plays a significant role in enhancing customer care and establishing close contacts with the airline’s prominent customers. A special lounge has been established at airports for Alfursan members to take rest. They are given special fare offers, allowed to take additional baggage and given preference among waitlisted passengers.

A civil card holder should complete 25,000 miles or 20 international flights within a year while golden card winners should complete 50,000 miles and 40 international flights. Blue cards are distributed to all passengers who have registered with the program, and they will continue in the program throughout their lives.

“Efforts are underway to set up special platforms at airports for Alfursan members to upgrade their classes, considering the miles they have crossed so far and provide them priority to avail seats on domestic and international flights,” the director said.

The department has been taking part in marketing exhibitions as well as travel and tourism investment forums inside and outside the Kingdom to introduce the program, understand the views of passengers about the program and collect their proposals to develop the program further, Khayyat said.

The department also holds regular meetings with its partners in business. “We also conduct awareness programs for passengers to make use of the benefits offered by Saudia and SkyTeam members to Alfursan members at airports in addition to earning reward miles,” he said.

Alfursan is a unique program that offers Saudia’s frequent flyers a range of benefits and privileges designed to make their travels even more rewarding. As a member of Alfursan one can access a variety of personalized services while earning reward miles that can be redeemed for free flights and upgrades.

This is in addition to an array of special privileges intended to make flying easier than before. In addition, a member can experience a host of exciting offers, rewards and preferential rates on a range of selected services through its global program partnerships which include car rental companies, credit card organizations and world-class hotels.

“Silver and Gold membership is our way of recognizing and rewarding the most valued and loyal members of Alfursan,” Khayyat said. “It entitles you to a host of rewards, preferential benefits and privileges which are exclusively reserved only for a select group of members who fly on Saudia,” he added.

As premier members of the Alfursan Program, Silver and Gold members are also entitled to additional benefits and privileges with Saudia’s SkyTeam partners. The SkyTeam Elite and ElitePlus statuses are especially reserved for Alfursan Silver and Gold members respectively, which enable them to experience a high level of preferential treatment when flying on anyone of the SkyTeam partner flights operating across the globe.

With its multi-subprogram, multi-lingual capability, and multi-redemption types, Alfrusan gives a broad scope to the loyalty department to evolve and develop loyalty propositions. The solution caters to the needs of business intelligence, campaign management, member portal, and call center to support the full customer marketing lifecycle across all channels.